Narputta Nangala Jugadai

Born in 1933 at Walukuritja, west of Kintore near Lake Kaarkurutintya, far west of Kintore, Narputta Nangala Jugadai was brought up by her Pintipu family in a nomadic way.

Narputta is a powerful law woman who was brought into the fledgling missionary community of Haasts Bluff with her brother by her father when she was still a very small child. She remembers leaving her home country travelling overland by camel with her family for many days across the desert country before reaching Haasts Bluff.

Narputta began painting in 1992. Now one of the Ikuntji Artists Studio's most famous painters, and like many in her family, Narputta's tjukurrpa (dreamings) include the Kurrkadi/goanna, which can be seen in many of her early figurative paintings.

Her later works focus entirely on her custodian lands, Kaakurutintya, with its massive pulis (mountains) and tali (sand hills) and the massive lake Kaarkurutintya, often depicted as a white salt lake in the dry months and as a massive blue stretch across her works when representing the rainy season.

Narputta's works have been collected by many Australian National Galleries and major international collections.